Leaving Franz Josef glacier on a bright Sunday morning I continued north up the SH6, destination Greymouth. On the way I stopped at lake Mapourika, lake Ianthe, and ate lunch at Hokitika. A cheese and ham sandwich on wholemeal with orange juice. Freshly squeezed.

That night I stayed at the Global Village and selected Dead Man and Raising Victor Vargas from the extensive in-house DVD collection.

The Lonely Planet rates the highway between Greymouth and Westport as one of the planet’s 10 best road trips. I checked out of the Global Village and hit the road.

The road winds between the Tasman sea and the Southern Alps passing through bays, beaches and old gold-mining towns. Halfway between Greymouth and Westport is the Paparoa National Park and the Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki.

The limestone rocks were formed millions of years ago through a process called ’stylobedding’ creating what looks like a series of stacked pancakes. Blowholes have also been formed and when the waves surge into the rocks the water blows through the blowholes like a geyser.

I continued north to Cape Fowlwind and walked to the nearby Seal Colony. I then headed east and drove along the Buller River before turning south and stopping at Reefton for the night.

Today is Tuesday and I am on my way to Arthur’s pass then onto Christchurch where i’ll meet up with Phil and Annalie once more. They couldn’t keep away from the NZ snow for long.